Gymnastics With Nico
by FieryPhoenix111
Summary: Three things: Gymnastics, Nico di Angelo, and Will Solace. Need I say more? Four-shot Nico & Will friendship. I decided to add more to this story, so Hazel has now been added to the mix ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Random idea I had. I don't own PJO or the gymnastics headcannon.**

 **Will 1/4**

Will was going to one of his most recent favorite places – the Hades Cabin. Will had recently put it upon himself to break down a certain son of Hades' barriers. He figured the best way to do that was to pop in to said son of Hades' cabin randomly and annoy him with whatever popped in Will's head. If Percy and Jason could be Nico's friends, why couldn't he? So that was all that Will was expecting from this visit - he was definitely _not_ expecting what did happen.

When Will reached the Hades Cabin, he hopped up the steps and, completely expecting the door to be locked, he put his full weight on the handle. The door swung open and Will stumbled inside, surprised. When he looked up into the cabin, he was shocked by what he saw. Nico was sitting on the floor wearing black basketball shorts, black undershirt and black socks, but that is not what had surprised the son of Apollo: it was the position the son of Hades was in. Nico – the Ghost King – was sitting in the middle of his cabin doing the splits.

"Nico?" Will asked shocked.

Nico looked up, just noticing that Will was there, and quickly pulled his legs out in front of him. "Really Will? The one time I forget to lock the door?"

"What were you doing?" Will asked.

"Sitting in my cabin?" Nico replied, although it sounded more like a question, and Will could tell from looking at Nico's eyes that he knew that Will wouldn't buy it.

"You can do the splits?"

Nico shrugged in response and looked at his feet in front of him.

"That is SO cool!" Will exclaimed.

Nico looked back up at Will. "You really think so?"

"Yes!" Will thought he saw a glint of excitement in Nico's eyes mixed with relief.

"Will you at least close the door?" Nico asked.

Confused, Will turned around to see the cabin door was still wide open from when he had stumbled in a few moments ago. "Oh, yeah." When he turned back around to face Nico, the son of Hades was sitting on the edge of his bed.

Will walked over to the bed across from Nico and sat down. "I have always wanted to learn how to do the splits, but I knew that my siblings would make fun of me if I even told them I wanted to," Will said, looking at Nico in amazement. Will knew that his friend would be trying to figure out if Will was being truthful, so he tried to put as much truth behind his voice as he could. "Can you do anything else? Like backflips or something?"

Nico gave Will a funny look. "You really do like that stuff," Nico stated.

Will could feel himself blushing slightly. "Yeah," Will unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away from Nico. "Hey, can you do the thing where you hold your hands out to the side, and as you jump, you touch your toes? Like doing the splits in midair?" Will looked back at Nico in time to see him give a small, almost imperceptible, nod. "You can!?" Will exclaimed, a little too loudly. He saw Nico jump, but was too excited to feel too guilty. "Can you show me? Please?" Will asked, giving Nico his puppy eyes.

"Maybe later."

Will stopped, knowing that that was the best offer he would get.

"I have something to show you." Nico said suddenly, as if he had to say it fast, or else he would lose his nerve.

"Okay?" Will said, unsure of what to expect.

Nico got up and walked over to the door and locked it. Then, he went back to his bed and moved a skull pillow that was leaning against the wall. It had been a gift from Hazel, and Will knew that Nico would never get rid of it for that reason alone, but apparently it was also hiding something. After Nico moved the pillow, Will could see a tiny keypad on the wall. Nico punched in some numbers too fast for Will to catch what they were, and what happened next completely shocked Will.

Part of the ceiling in between Nico's bed and the corner of the cabin started coming down. The section of ceiling was a circle, about 2 feet in diameter, and when it hit the floor, Will could see that it was a tight spiral staircase. Will looked at it, speechless.

Nico walked over to the first step and hesitated, as if steeling himself for what he was about to do. He looked at Will, saw his shocked face, which must have been priceless because he smiled slightly, and motioned for the son of Apollo to follow him as he went up the stairs.

Quickly, Will jumped up and followed him. When his head poked up through the hole that the staircase had made, he gasped. There was a whole second floor! From the outside, the Hades Cabin didn't look like it could have a second floor, but here, Will was looking at it. He quickly climbed the rest of the stairs and stood on the second story's floor. He looked around, amazed. There was gymnastics equipment everywhere except for a strip of clear space along one wall where, Will thought and hoped, Nico could do flips. It looked crammed to Will, but he thought Nico probably had it organized somehow. All of the equipment was black and gray with some yellow spread around. The floor was all gray padding with yellow tape along the outside so it was easier to tell where the gray floor met the gray walls. "This is incredible," Will whispered. Then, realizing that Nico was probably waiting for a reaction, said it louder. "This is incredible!"

Will turned to see Nico watching him. He saw the anxiety in Nico's eyes fade with a kind of hopeful expression. "You actually know how to use all of this?" Will asked excitedly. He had to suppress the urge to go run around asking what everything did, but he knew that Nico probably wouldn't appreciate that, especially since he seemed so insecure about it.

"Yes?"

"Could you show me how you use all of this?" Will asked, gesturing to the whole room.

Nico looked at Will tentatively. "Would you want to try some of it?" Nico asked.

Will's eyes widened. "I probably can't do any of it," Will started. He saw Nico deflate and added, "But I'll try whatever you think I should. I just haven't done anything like this before. I would love to be able to though."

Nico perked up and turned around to face the wall. He reached out a hand and opened a cabinet that Will hadn't noticed was there before. Will couldn't see into the cabinet, but when Nico turned around, he had something white in his hands. "Here, put these on." Nico said, throwing the pile to Will. The son of Apollo caught the pile and saw that it was white basketball shorts and a white undershirt. "And take your shoes off." Nico added.

Will quickly took his shoes off and headed over to Nico, who was holding a door open. Will went inside and realized it was a small bathroom.

When Will came out of the bathroom, Nico was standing over in the clear space by a wall. Will headed over, a little nervous at what Nico might make him do.

"I didn't know you owned anything other than black." Will said, looking at the white clothes he was wearing. Will smirked; "And the Hawaiian shirt," he added.

Nico rolled his eyes. "I thought we agreed to never bring up that mishap again." Nico narrowed his eyes. "Unless you would like a reminder of helping deliver Chuck."

Will's eyes widened and he zipped his lips shut.

"Despite what people may think, I do own other colors; I just don't wear them outside of my cabin. How do you feel about a handstand?" Nico asked, changing the subject.

"Umm, I will probably fail miserably." Will replied.

"Okay, well, you have to start somewhere, so we'll try it against the wall."

Will hummed nervously.

"You'll be fine, Will. It's really not that hard. I'll show you first."

"mm'kay"

"So first you put your hands near the wall," Nico said while demonstrating. "Then you use one foot to kick up from the floor and up against the wall. Your other leg will follow the first. The trick is to keep your legs and torso straight the whole time. Make sure you don't push up too hard, or you will hit the wall and bounce off. Don't do it too lightly either, or you won't get up high enough." Nico pushed off of the floor and his body went up, barely touching the wall. "Then, to get down, you bring one leg forward and the rest of you should follow. If you land with both feet on the floor, the momentum should bring the rest of to your body up." Nico did what he had just described and was suddenly standing beside Will again.

Nico looked at him. "Like I said – easy."

"Okay…" Will said, his voice wavering a bit.

"I'll help you. You won't learn anything if you don't try it."

Will bent down placing his hands down close to the wall. "Is this good?"

"Yep. Now just kick up, keeping your body as straight as you can."

Before Will could decide against it, he took a deep breath and did as Nico said, trying to judge how hard to jump. He felt his body go up and hit the wall, his body gently bumped off, then rested against the wall again. He felt something on his ankles and saw Nico's black socks in front of him. He let out his breath; Nico must be holding his ankles against the wall. "Good, a little forceful maybe, but I think it would have worked. I didn't want to chance you falling over on the first try. I think I'll help you down. Ready?"

Will tried to reply, but the only sound that came out was a grunt.

"Okay, try to keep your body straight." Will felt Nico move one ankle down toward the floor while keeping the other against the wall. When the first foot was almost halfway down, Nico started moving his other ankle down. Just when Will felt like he was going to break in half, his feet hit the floor and his body went up. This only took a couple of seconds, and Will was rightside-up again. He immediately felt dizzy and put a hand on the wall to help steady him. "Are you okay?" Nico asked. "You're really red."

Will put his other hand on his face. "The blood had rushed to my head."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you get used to it." Nico said. "I'll show you something I have been working on if you want."

"Yes!"

"Are you still dizzy?"

"No, I'm good now."

"Okay," Nico said as he started to walk toward the middle of the room. "I don't have this perfected yet, so don't be surprised if I fall down or something."

"How long have you been doing this gymnastics stuff?"

"…Bianca used to want to be a gymnast-"

"So you did it with her! That is so cool! I am sure that none of my siblings would do it with me."

"Yeah, well, it's actually pretty useful in fights and stuff too. It makes it easier to get out of the way quickly, or jump on top of monsters."

Nico stopped in front of a piece of equipment that had two strings hanging down that were attached to little rings. "Okay, so after you can do a handstand on the ground without the wall for balance, you could try this, but it took me a long time to be able to do it at all." Nico walked in between the rings, facing away from Will. He grabbed the rings and took a deep breath. Then, Will watched as Nico jumped up, flipping himself over so he was upside down. He straightened his arms and was shaking very badly.

Will took a step forward and Nico hissed "I got this." Will reluctantly stepped back and watched in absolute amazement as Nico pulled his legs together and stopped shaking quite so much. Nico's face was starting to go red from the strain and he let out a long breath. Then, he loosened his hands just enough for his body to swing back around. There was a thump and an Italian curse from Nico and there he was, standing in front of Will on one leg, holding his foot.

"That was fantastic! I would never be able to do that!" Will was almost hopping up and down with excitement until he realized that Nico must have hit his foot on the way down. He took a step forward to look, but Nico waved him away.

"It's fine. But I shouldn't walk on it yet." Nico said.

Will had to resist the urge to double-check, but knew that Nico probably knew what he was talking about. He probably got hurt a lot in here. "What do you do if you get hurt in here?" Will asked, concerned.

Nico shrugged and used one hand to point to a first aid kit in the corner.

"But, what if you like, break a bone or something? You've never come in to the infirmary before saying that you landed wrong after doing a flip or something. I would have remembered that."

Nico sighed. "Remember when I came in with a broken arm about two months ago? Right after the war with Gaea?"

Will didn't even have to think about it. "Yeah, you said you were in the woods and a hellhound came out of nowhere and attacked you. I was surprised that you didn't have any scratches."

"Well, what actually happened was that I was on the trampoline." Nico gestured to a large trampoline in the far corner. "I was trying a triple backflip for the third time I think and I was too close to the edge. I hit the metal edge with my arm."

"Oh… what if you hit your head and blacked out or something?"

Nico shrugged. "Hasn't happened yet." Nico put his foot on the ground. That whole time, Nico had been standing on one foot and he didn't lose his balance at all. Needless to say, Will was impressed. Nico started walking away, limping slightly and Will followed. "How good is your balance, Solace?"

"Umm, I don't know. I don't need to have a lot of balance. I usually just need to walk around."

"You've never ridden a skateboard?" Nico asked.

"When I was really little. Not since I came to camp."

"Okay, next is the balance beam." Nico said, his limp had gone away already and he stopped by the long beam.

Will stepped onto it and immediately almost fell off. He stuck his arms out to the side for balance. The beam was about 10 feet long and about as wide as Will's foot. Nico stood beside Will on the floor and held up one hand. "If you start to fall, grab my hand. It should help steady you."

Will was surprised. Nico was letting Will touch him. After two steps forward, Will saw why. He started to tip and grabbed Nico's hand with his left. When he stopped shaking, Will started forward again. "Thanks." Nico nodded. After another three steps, Will wobbled again. This time, he couldn't catch his balance until he put one foot on the ground.

"Try again." Nico said as he took a couple of steps back to the start of the balance beam. Will looked at how long the beam was. He had only made it about 3 feet. Not even halfway.

This time, when Will stepped up onto the beam, Nico hopped up in front of him, facing him. He held out his hands a little. "It might be easier to use both hands to steady yourself."

Will nodded. He looked down at the beam in front of him and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He noticed Nico taking small, quick steps backward, not wavering at all. After three steps, Will wobbled and grabbed on to Nico's hands. His hands moved, and Will was afraid he would tip Nico over, but then he realized that Nico was pushing him so he would be standing straight again. "Thanks," Will said.

"No problem." Nico replied. Will took a few steps forward, a little distracted because Nico actually didn't flinch for once when Will had touched him, and his foot slipped. He made a desperate grab for Nico and missed his hands. He grabbed Nico's shoulders instead. Instinctively, Nico ducked and stepped off of the beam, leaving Will to fall off after him. He landed on his back. "Sorry." Nico said, holding out a hand to help Will up.

"No, it's okay, I'm sorry I missed your hands." Will said, taking Nico's hand. When he was standing again, he saw a glimmer of amusement in Nico's eyes. Will sighed. "I'll try again." Part of Will was jumping up and down at seeing Nico having a little fun, even if it was because Will fell down.

They both went to the beginning of the beam and started again, the same as last time, with Nico in front of Will, ready to help him if he needed it. This time, Will only needed help three times and he made it to the end. Nico hopped off the end neatly (facing the wrong way, the son of Hades didn't even need to look!) while Will stumbled down, a little less gracefully.

"Will,"

"Yes?"

"I hate to tell you this, but your balance sucks. We'll have to work on that."

Half of Will pouted. He couldn't be that bad. The rest of him was celebrating that

1 Nico had said 'we' so Nico would still help him.

2 Nico sounded like this would become a normal thing for them to come up here.

3 Nico is AMAZING at gymnastics and didn't mind helping him.

Outwardly, Will sighed. "Okay."

Nico looked at him, worry showing in his dark brown eyes. "You do want to come back, don't you?"

Will's eyes widened. "Yes! Yes, I do. I really do. Nico this is so cool, I definitely want to come back."

Nico relaxed and headed towards the stairs. "Good, I would kind of like to have someone here with me."

Will grinned. He _knew_ Nico wasn't as antisocial as he claimed. "I can't believe you haven't told anyone about this. Nobody knows about it except me, right?"

Nico suddenly spun around and looked Will right in the eyes. "Yes, and if you ever tell _anybody_ , I will send some skeletons after you. Got it?"

Will looked directly back at Nico. "Got it. Your secret is safe with me."

"Good."

Will walked back to the bathroom and changed back into the clothes he had arrived in. When he came out, he handed Nico his clothes back. The son of Hades shook his head. "Keep them. If you are coming back, you'll need them."

"Okay, thanks. Hey, if I come back, does that mean I get to see you wear different colors?" Will couldn't resist teasing Nico just a little, and it seemed a little safer to tease him about his clothes rather than the fact that he can do gymnastics.

Nico sighed as he started down the stairs back to the first floor. "I suppose so."

"Awesome. I bet you look great in yellow."

Nico stopped and looked back at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"What? I've never seen you in yellow and it's my favorite color."

Nico continued down the stairs. "Stereotypical son of Apollo."

Will gasped dramatically. "Says the son of Hades who no one has ever seen with any color besides black on." Will avoided the Hawaiian shirt issue this time.

"Hey, I do wear the Camp Half-Blood shirt."

"After washing it with all of you black clothes enough times for the orange to become a dirty brownish color."

Nico shrugged. "What can I say?"

Will snorted. "So, should I come over tomorrow after the infirmary?"

"Yes, I mean, if you still want to."

"Of course I will." Will looked down at the clothes in his hands. "Um, should I leave this here? I'm only going to use them here, and I don't want anyone asking where I got them or anything."

"Oh, yeah, good point." Nico took them back and watched as Will let himself out. "Bye, Will."

"Bye, Nico."


	2. Chapter 2

**Will** **2/4**

Will hummed as he hopped up the steps to the Hades Cabin. He knocked on the door, remembering this time, and heard a faint "Come in" come from inside the cabin.

Will opened the door and stepped through, making sure to close and lock it this time. He looked around and saw that the staircase was already down. Thinking that Nico would be up there, Will quickly climbed the stairs and was rewarded when he saw Nico making his way over to the stairs from the other end of the clear strip. Nico was wearing dark purple clothes. Everything he was wearing was the same shade of purple, even his socks. Who knew the son of Hades would be so color-coordinated?

Will smirked. "I like your clothes. You should wear that color more often."

Nico looked at his clothes and sighed. "No matter what I wore, you would say that I should wear it more. Even if I looked absolutely hideous."

Will put one index finger on his chin. "True, true, but really, that shade of purple really suits you."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Glad you think so."

"You started without me." Will said, changing the subject and pouting a bit.

Nico rolled his eyes (again). "Well for one, I wasn't 100% positive you were coming. You could have decided not to show up." Will was about to interrupt, saying that he would never just back out like that, but Nico put up a hand to stop him. "Second, when you are here, I am trying to help you, so I can't work on my stuff as much. Third, I didn't have anything else to do."

"Okay, but you should know that if I say I am going to do something, I will do it. I don't back away from what I say I am going to do. And will you pleeeaaase show me what you were doing?" Will pleaded.

"I suppose." Nico said, a little hesitantly. "I haven't been working on this very long either, so it probably won't work the first time."

"Oh, don't be so negative. The handstand on the ring thing worked almost perfectly."

"Key word: almost. A little slip up could be the difference between making the trick and breaking a bone."

Will didn't know what to say to that, so he just watched as Nico stood at one end of the clear strip and took a deep breath. Nico ran forward a couple of steps with his arms raised above his head. Then, he jumped down, did two forward flips, a one-handed cartwheel, and a backflip before landing on his feet – almost. His feet slipped out from under him and he landed flat on his back.

"Nico!" Will started to run toward him. When he got to him, Nico was already sitting up with one hand on his head. "Are you okay?" Will started checking him over, looking for any damage.

Nico groaned. "I'm fine, Will. I just slipped. I almost had it too." He started to get up, but Will pushed him back down on the ground.

"Stay down and rest for a second." Will said.

"Will, I'm fine. This happens all the time. Besides, I have to do it again until I can get it right."

Will sat on his heels, letting Nico sit back up. "Okay."

Nico must have been able to tell that Will wasn't completely convinced because he added "Honestly, Will, I am _fine._ I'll try to show you again when you get changed. I put your clothes in the bathroom."

Nico stood up and offered a hand to Will, who took it uncertainly. When Will was standing again, Nico gave him a small push. "Seriously, Solace."

"Okay, okay, I'm going." While Will was in the bathroom, he couldn't help wondering if Nico was already trying that trick again. He was tougher than he looks, which is saying something, if he can take a fall like that and get right back up again. Will had just put his shorts on when he heard a loud thump come from behind the door. "Nico!" Will waited for a response for a second. He was about to rush out there-without a shirt on-when he heard Nico respond.

"Seriously? Again? Oh, uh, I'm fine Will."

Will let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding and finished dressing. When he came out, he saw Nico sitting beside the bathroom door. "What happened?" Will demanded.

Nico ran a hand through his hair. "I tried to, uh, do the trick again on the way back over here, and I, um, slipped again." Nico looked away, not looking Will in the eyes.

Will crouched down next to him and used one finger to lift Nico's chin to make Nico look at him. "Are you okay?" Will asked gently.

Nico sighed. "Yes, I just didn't want to mess up too badly in front of you." Nico looked away again.

"Nico, it is okay to mess up in front of me."

"But now you think I suck at this." Nico said, dejectedly.

"No I don't, I still think you are amazing at this. Just because you mess up a couple of times doesn't change that. Mistakes happen to everybody. It won't change how I see you." Will said softly.

"Really?" Nico stood up, shaking off his desolate mood and not waiting for a response. "Okay, enough of that. Let's work on your handstand."

Will laughed. "Speaking of messing up. Just wait until I try something harder than that."

"Shut up Solace, you'll be fine."

"Says the kid who can get right back up after falling flat on his back- _twice_."

Will put his hands on the ground, just like the day before. After a second, he pushed up, hoping he got it right this time. His body hit the wall, but didn't bounce as much as it had last time.

"Good." Will waited for Nico to grab his ankles, but when he realized he wasn't going to, Will tried to remember what to do.

Then he remembered. He lowered one leg and was surprised at how naturally the other seemed to follow. When his feet hit the ground, Will tried to bring his body up, but he didn't have enough momentum. He must have lowered his feet too slowly or something.

Realizing that he couldn't make himself go up, he slowly slid his feet backward and sank to the floor, face-first. He lay there, flat on his belly, face down, arms stretched in front of him, fingertips touching the bottom of the wall, groaning. He felt something touch his back and realized that Nico had placed his hand there. He let out another low groan until he noticed Nico's hand shaking slightly. "You had better not be laughing, di Angelo."

Will rolled over onto his back, making a face and Nico couldn't hold his laughter in any more. Will groaned again. "Forget what I said about doing anything harder than this. I can't even get this right." Will knew his voice was shaking a little with laughter, but he tried to hide his smile.

"Gods, I'm sorry, but that was just the most dramatic thing I have ever seen." Nico said through his laughter.

Will finally gave in and started laughing too. "Yeah, I guess I was a little bit overdramatic."

Nico composed himself and held a hand out for Will. When they were both standing again, Nico walked back to the edge of the clear strip. "I am going to try this again. You might want to move."

Will realized he was standing right where Nico was going to be and hurried over to the equipment so he would be out of the way. "You can do it Nico!" Will cheered.

Nico shot him a look that was meant to scare him, but the effect was ruined by the amusement sparking in his eyes.

The son of Hades took a deep breath and started again. This time, he did the trick perfectly, jumping an extra time at the end to help stop his momentum. Then he thrust his fist in the air. "Yes!"

Will hummed happily and wandered over to the balance beam. Nico followed and jumped up in front Will, holding his hands out for Will if he needed them. Will looked at Nico and saw a huge grin on the Ghost King's face. Will knew that if everyone could see this side of Nico, they wouldn't be as tense around him, but Will was just glad that _he_ got to see this Nico, even if he humiliated himself along the way (several times).

They made it to the other side of the balance beam on the first try. Will only grabbed Nico for support twice.

"Better." Nico said when they stepped off. "You are almost ready to try that one," Nico said pointing. Will followed Nico's finger and saw a taller balance beam. It was about five feet off the ground. Will's eyes widened.

Nico smiled slightly at his reaction. "Not yet, of course."

"Yeah, not yet," Will repeated, relaxing a little. "Hey, um, I was wondering…"

Nico looked at him curiously and a little apprehensively. "What?"

"Oh, it's silly…but how did you know it was me at the door earlier? What if it had been Jason or Percy?"

"Oh, yeah, well, I was expecting you." Nico started, walking toward the wall by the stairs. "And I have this."

Will followed him and saw a small screen on the wall. "You were watching me? How did I not see this screen before?"

"Yep, it has audio too, so I could hear you humming." Nico said with a small smile. Will blushed a little. "And it only appears when I need it. There is a panel of the wall that covers it."

"But the door was open."

Nico tipped the screen forward to reveal some buttons.

"Oh, one of those controls the door."

"Yep and the lights, so I could have turned them off from up here while you were down there. There's a microphone too."

"Okay, that's pretty handy. I want one."

"You don't have anywhere to put it." Nico pointed out.

"Well, I want a secret floor above my cabin and secret buttons to control stuff in the rest. Imagine if I waited for everyone to come in the cabin and started messing with the lights. My whole cabin would be so confused." Will said, thinking of how all of his siblings would react.

"Okay, I should change back." Will said, wishing that he could stay a little longer. His duties at the infirmary leave barely any free time.

"Okay," Nico shrugged. "I still have to practice my flips."

Will disappeared into the bathroom. When he came out dressed in his regular clothes again, he waved to Nico, who was on the other side of the cabin. I'll be back tomorrow." He said.

Nico waved back. "'kay."

On the way out, Will found the camera and waved at it, not sure if Nico was looking or not. "I see you Solace." Will jumped and Nico laughed.

"Geez, Death Boy, it sounds like you're right here." Will said. He waved again, grinning. "Bye." Then he ran to his cabin.

He thought he heard Nico say 'bye, Will,' but he couldn't be sure.


	3. Chapter 3

**Will 3/4**

Will skipped up to the door of the Hades Cabin. He had been doing this every day for about two months now and was trying to master a free-standing handstand. He would do it today. He could feel it. "Nico?" Will called as he waved at the little camera by the front door.

"Hey, Will." Nico's voice came from nowhere and Will heard a faint click as the door unlocked. He pushed it open, went inside and locked the door behind him. Then he headed up the stairs.

"Nico, I'm going to do it today!" Will told him excitedly.

The son of Hades was wearing his black gym clothes again and jumping on the trampoline. He smiled at Will's enthusiasm. Even though they had been doing this every day, Will was still so excited about doing anything and everything he could. "You can do it, Will." He said.

Will felt warmed by Nico's praise and disappeared into the bathroom to change. He had acquired a few more outfits, but they were all white, save for one yellow shirt and shorts. He put on some white clothes and went to join Nico in the main room.

Carefully, Will placed his hands on the ground and kicked up. He straightened up and tried to steady himself, but he had pushed a little too far and he kept tipping backward until he landed flat on his back.

"Will, are you okay?" Nico's voice came from the other side of the room.

Will propped himself up on his elbows. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said, watching as Nico nodded, still on the trampoline. Nico jumped up so high, he was almost touching the ceiling, then curled himself into a ball and spun forward so many times Will couldn't count them fast enough. Then, just as he was about to hit the trampoline again, Nico's legs shot out and he landed, bouncing a little on the trampoline.

Nico saw him watching and jumped off. "I want to show you something."

Will followed him a little warily. The last time Nico had Will try something new hadn't gone so well…

 _Nico had come over to Will, where there was no equipment around and told him to lay down on his back. Will had done so, wondering what was going to happen next. "Put your palms on the floor beside your head and bend your legs so your feet are flat on the ground." Will had done that and was feeling really awkward. "Now push up so your back isn't on the floor."_

 _Once Will did that, he felt a hand on his back. "I am going to push you up to a handstand, just keep yourself straight and try to balance yourself. It's like a backward handstand."_

 _Will was about to ask if he could see Nico do it first when he felt his body rising and the blood rushed to his head. He automatically straightened up and tried to reach his feet to the ceiling as Nico had told him to do when doing a handstand. He saw Nico's red socks shuffle around and felt his hands close around Will's ankles, steadying him. "Okay, now you can go down the way that you came up. Try to land in the same position."_

 _Will had automatically started going down the way that he was used to-the opposite way that Nico had wanted him to-and toward the son of Hades. "The other way." Nico said, gently pushing Will's feet away from him. Will felt himself moving away from Nico and panicked a little. He tried to put his feet underneath him, but he was a little too late. His legs hit the ground, which brought his head and arms up off the ground just enough so that his hands couldn't touch the floor. His head came down and hit the padded floor. "Will!" Will saw Nico crouching next to him. "Are you alright?" Will could hear the concern in his voice._

 _"_ _Yes, I'll be fine, just let me lie here for a minute." Will had said, a little dazed._

"I'll show you first." Nico's voice brought Will back to reality. They had stopped in front of a bar, a little lower than chest-height. Nico stood facing the horizontal bar and wrapped his hands around it. "You just jump a little to get you weight over the bar and your body will follow. Just be ready to land on your feet afterward." Nico said, then he jumped a little, tipping the top half of his body over the bar. Will watched as Nico did a somersault over the bar. Then he was standing in front of him again as if he hadn't done anything yet. "Okay?" Nico asked, stepping out of the way.

"Um, yeah," Will responded, taking Nico's place. Will wrapped his hands around the bar.

"Don't grip the bar so hard. You have to let your hands move around the bar. Otherwise your hands will twist in a not-so-good way."

Will looked at his hands. His knuckles were white from holding the bar. He loosened his fingers and took a deep breath. "Okay." Then he jumped and leaned over the bar. There was a blur, and suddenly he was standing again. He looked at Nico, shocked. Nico was giving him an anxious look. "That is so fun!" Will almost yelled.

Nico looked relieved. "I'm glad you liked it. I thought it might be too fast for you."

Will shook his head. "No, that was SO fun!"

"Okay, well, I am going to work on my quadruple somersault thing again. I think I might try landing on the floor instead of the trampoline this time." Nico said, walking away.

Will did the somersault around the bar again, this time feeling himself actually move around the bar, and was ready when his feet hit the ground. Then he went back to working on his handstand.

He put his hands on the ground and kicked up, this time finding his balance easily. He started counting in his head. If he could get to ten and stand up again without stumbling, he would consider his handstand a success. _One…two…three…_ He heard a thump. _That must have been Nico. I should check on-_ Will felt himself wobble and tried to find his balance again. Once he had it, he thought _he's probably fine. I'll check afterward. Four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten!_ Will brought his feet down and landed perfectly. "Nico! I did it!" Will yelled. Then he remembered the crash and ran to the trampoline. "Nico!"

Will saw Nico sprawled out on the floor beside the trampoline. His leg was in a weird position and Will's heart jumped into his throat. He ran over, his recent victory forgotten, and knelt beside his friend. "Nico?" He placed his hand on Nico's forehead, and his eyes fluttered open.

"Will…" He murmured before closing his eyes again.

"Hold on, Death Boy, I am taking you to the infirmary." Will said, gently picking him up. He felt Nico wrap his arms around his neck and Will headed towards the stairs.

Once in the main part of the cabin, Will took the time to gently put Nico on his bed for a moment so he could put the stairs up, knowing that Nico would want to be sure that no one will accidentally stumble across the hidden staircase. Will picked up the pillow and punched the numbers in. 1-2-8. Nico's birthday. Idly, Will remembered that today was January 27 and tomorrow was his friend's birthday. Then, he picked Nico up again, feeling Nico's arms around his neck and ran to the infirmary.

When he entered, Kayla, his half-sister, ran over. "What happened?"

"He, well, um, we…were… on the…roof of the Hades cabin, and Nico… got too close to the edge and…fell?" Will stammered.

Kayla narrowed her eyes at Will, but shrugged and helped him put Nico on a bed. Will pulled up a chair and checked him over. "I guess I'll let you handle it." Kayla said, leaving to go check on the other patients.

Will ran his hands down Nico's leg and immediately knew that it was broken. He looked at Nico's face. His eyes were half-open, watching him. Will quickly got some ambrosia. "This is going to hurt," he said giving it to Nico. "I have to set it." Nico nodded slightly and ate the ambrosia. Will took a deep breath and held Nico's leg, then bracing himself, jerked it to the side. Nico let out a low moan. "It's okay." Will said. "I'll just get you some medicine to help you sleep and I'll try to speed up your healing."

Will came back with a glass of what looked like water and gave it to Nico to drink. Will helped him sit up slowly. "It will make you fall into a deep sleep in a minute, and no nightmares." Will said as he watched Nico drink it. Then, he took the glass and set it on the table beside him. He sat down on the chair and held Nico's hand. "I'm here, it's okay."

"Will," Nico said softly, "I know, you don't have to baby me." Will noticed that Nico hadn't shaken his hand away and thought that Nico must secretly like it, so he stayed.

After a moment, Will knew that Nico would be getting really tired. "Nico, I wanted to make sure you know something,"

Nico had his eyes closed, but he nodded slightly. "You know that you can tell me anything, right?" This had been bothering Will for a while. Even though they had been hanging out in Nico's gym a lot together, Nico still didn't really open up to Will much, and the only reason he knew about the gym was because he had walked in when Nico was stretching. Will had consoled himself by saying that Nico just didn't open up to anybody, and he didn't have to show Will the gym. He could have just said he was stretching and left it at that, but Will wanted to make absolutely sure that Nico knew he was there for him. "I wouldn't tell anybody anything."

Nico's lips turned up into a small smile. "I know…I…trust…you." Nico mumbled as he slid into sleep. Will grinned and stood up. He had something to do for the son of Hades' birthday. He should get started while he was busy sleeping. Will realized that Nico was still holding his hand, and Will softly ran his fingers over Nico's fingertips until he let go. Then, quickly, Will left to put his surprise together. He would be back to help Nico heal after he got started.


	4. Chapter 4

**Will 4/4**

Will walked in to the infirmary an hour before he usually arrived. He had wanted to give Nico his birthday present before going to work. When he walked over to Nico's bed, he was surprised to see that Nico was already awake and talking to Kayla. He walked up just in time to hear Kayla ask Nico if he knew what had happened when he broke his leg.

Nico glanced at Will, who Kayla hadn't noticed yet, and sent him a questioning glance. Will shook his head, hoping that Nico would understand that he should say he doesn't remember. To his relief, Nico shook his head and answered Kayla.

"No, I don't."

Will stepped toward him and Kayla finally realized that he was there. "Hello, Will, why don't you tell Nico how he broke his leg?" Kayla asked.

Will knew his half-sister well enough to know that she was teasing him for trying to lie to her yesterday, but she wasn't going to push him to tell her the truth. Relieved and slightly embarrassed by the story he had made, Will rubbed the back of his neck. "Well," Will felt Nico's curious gaze on him. "We were on the roof of the Hades cabin and you got too close to the edge and fell."

Will looked at Nico and saw him roll his eyes. "Oh, no, how stupid of me." Nico said flatly, no emotion in his voice.

"So no more roofs for you." Will added.

Nico sighed. "I have to go check on the other patients," Kayla said as she left.

"That was one great cover-up story." Nico said.

"What? I had to come up with one on the spot, you're lucky it was Kayla that saw me. If it was anyone else, they would have pressed for the truth."

Nico rolled his eyes and stood up. "So, am I free to go?"

"Yep, I came in last night and sped up your healing, so you should be fine. I wanted to show you something before I start work today."

Nico looked at him quizzically. "Okay?"

"Follow me." Will said as he led the way out of the infirmary and to the Hades cabin. "If your leg hurts, tell me." Will said, even though he knew that Nico wasn't limping at all and that his leg should be completely healed. He had wanted Nico to be able to use his present right away, and he wouldn't be able to do that with a broken bone.

"Yes, doctor." Nico said as the reached the front door of the Hades cabin. Will ran inside and punched in the code to get the stairs down. Then, he quickly climbed up the steps and waited at the top to watch Nico's reaction.

When Nico came up, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Happy Birthday!"

"You did this all while I was in the infirmary last night?" Nico asked, amazed.

"Yes." Will looked around. The cabin now had horizontal bars and rings hanging from the ceiling all over the cabin, like a trapeze. "Check this out!" Will said as he ran toward a ladder he had put on the wall. He climbed up to the small platform, held the bar in front of him and took a deep breath. Then he jumped off the little platform he was standing on and swung through the air. Then he let go and went flying _. I hope this works._ He thought. He had tested it before bringing Nico in, but there was no way of telling whether it was going to work or not until it was too late.

"Will!" Nico shouted (and for good reason, there did not appear to be a safety net). Will was going to crash into the gymnastics equipment, which would not be a soft landing.

Then Will felt something bouncy underneath him and laughed. It was a safety net. Will crawled above the trampoline and the net disappeared, allowing him to fall on the bouncy surface beneath. When he got down, Nico was standing there, staring at him in shock. "How did you do that?"

Will grinned and shrugged. "I had Lou Ellen enchant it for me. It only appears if it's needed and it shouldn't interfere if you want to fall past it, so when you jump on the trampoline, it shouldn't stop you."

Nico stare at Will for a second, then ran to the ladder. "It will work for me too, right?"

"Yes, it will work for anybody."

Nico nodded and climbed up. When he stood on the little platform, he caught his breath. It looked like a long way down. Then he grabbed the bar that Will had used and jumped off, he flew through the air and landed on the net, laughing the whole time. When he got back on the floor, he turned to Will. "That was amazing!" Nico said, as excited about this as Will had been when he learned that Nico could do gymnastics.

Will grinned and held out his arms. "Do I get a hug for my efforts?" Nico hesitated for a second before coming closer and wrapping his arms around his friend. "I thought we could learn something together." Will whispered to him.

"Yes, that sounds great." Nico replied

The two friends broke away from each other and Will looked at his watch. "Gotta run, I'll be back tonight!"

"Okay, thank you."

Will was already at the stairs. "See ya, Death Boy. Happy Birthday!"

 **I've decided to continue and have more characters find out about Nico's amazing ability. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** **The next couple of chapters aren't as much about the gymnastics part, but don't worry; Hazel has to get to Camp Half-Blood first ;)**

 **Hazel 1/5**

Nico and Will had just finished practicing on the trapeze and were now relaxing upside down. Nico had his knees bent over the bar facing Will, who was in the same position, facing Nico.

"I should probably get going." Will said, making no move to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Nico hesitated. "Hazel is coming to visit Camp Half-Blood tomorrow and I have to shadow-travel to get her." Nico realized Will's face was getting red and reached up to pull himself up so he could sit on the trapeze bar. Then he turned around to face Will again.

Will tried to follow his lead and stretched his arms up, but he couldn't reach the cords. He gave up and let his arms dangle below him. Nico swung toward Will and pulled the son of Apollo's hands up until he could reach the cords. Then Will pulled himself up, turning to face Nico. "Thanks."

Nico nodded.

"Hazel is staying for a week, right?" Will asked.

"Yes."

"So should I come back here after she leaves?"

Nico glanced away from Will. "I was actually thinking I should show her."

"Really? That's great! You should definitely show her." Will said, giving Nico his brightest smile.

"I don't think I'll tell her tomorrow because after shadow-travelling us both here I won't want to do anything for the rest of the day. I should have time to tell her the next day though. You can come over here then." Nico said, knowing that by telling Will, he was committed to going through with his plan.

"Okay, I can't wait to meet your sister." Will said as he jumped off the trapeze and landed on the safety net.

"I think you two will get along very well." Nico said, already thinking of how much having both of them around was going to drain his energy.

Will smiled back at him. "I hope so." Will fell down on the trampoline and walked over to the spiral staircase leading down to the main part of the cabin. "I'll see you later then," Will called waving at Nico as he left.

"Good-bye Will."

* * *

The next day, Nico woke up late, as usual and went to get his breakfast from the dining pavilion. Unlike most demigods, Nico had taken to ignoring the horn that sounded when it was time to eat and made a habit of dropping by whenever he got hungry. There were always some spare plates out and Nico made sure to put them to use. After he had a quick breakfast, he shadow-traveled to New Rome to pick up his sister. He appeared in front of a coffee shop and instantly spotted Frank, who was sitting at an outside table. Frank waved Nico over.

"Hey Frank, where are Hazel and Jason?"

"Jason is working on some temple that is giving him some trouble and Hazel is –right there." Frank said cutting himself off when he spotted Hazel coming out of the coffee shop.

"Hi Nico! I thought you would be getting here soon." Hazel put a cup in front of Nico and one in front of Frank. Then she sat down across from Frank with her own cup. "I got you vanilla bean."

"Thanks, Hazel." Nico said.

"Frank, I ended up getting the orange and dark chocolate frappe. Next time make sure I get the pumpkin spice." Then she turned to Nico to fill him in. "I really want to try the pumpkin spice because it is a limited time offer, but I really like the orange and dark chocolate. I have to choose every time we come here!" Hazel leaned back in her chair as if exhausted by the choice. "Frank doesn't have that problem, he always gets the chocolate. What do you get?"

Nico smiled at his sister's plight. "Vanilla bean."

"Every time?"

Nico nodded, taking a sip from his cup.

"You guys don't even want to try something different? You don't wonder what everything else tastes like?"

"No," Nico replied, still smiling. "I like my vanilla. Why change it?"

"I agree with Nico." Frank said.

Hazel sighed. "Next time I'm getting pumpkin spice. Frank, you'll have to order so I don't change my mind again."

"Alright."

After the three of them had spent some time catching up and drinking their beverages, it was time for Hazel and Nico to leave. Frank had duties as praetor and wasn't coming with.

"Good-bye Frank!" Hazel said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Good-bye Hazel, I'll see you in a week." Frank said, returning the gesture.

Nico nodded approvingly and took his sister's hand. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Nico nodded to Frank and shadow-traveled back to his cabin.

Nico and Hazel both collapsed on the beds, but for different reasons. Nico because of sudden exhaustion, and Hazel because she still wasn't used to the feeling of travelling through the shadows. Hazel jumped back up almost immediately. "I'm going to go find the others."

"I'll be here." Nico replied, not moving from his place on his bed.

* * *

Hazel decided to check the training arena first. When she walked in, she saw a figure with an eagle feather braided in her dark, choppy hair. Piper was slashing her knife through a straw dummy. "Do you want to spar with someone who can actually beat you?" Hazel asked.

Piper spun around to face her and smiled. "Yes, if only there was someone here who had a chance of beating me."

"Look again, girlie, 'cause you're looking at her." Hazel said with a smile on her face.

"You? Definitely not. I trained you." Piper said scathingly, her smile sliding off her face.

"I have been trained by more people than just you." Hazel retorted, her own smile gone, her voice icy. "I could definitely beat you in a battle."

Piper let out a laugh. Hazel was startled, though she didn't show it. The laugh that came out of Piper's mouth was cold and dangerous.

Hazel took a threatening step toward her friend and glared at her. The two stood there for a couple of seconds, glaring at each other.

Then, simultaneously, they both rushed forward and embraced the other, laughing. "You looked ready to impale me with your knife any second." Hazel said, grinning.

"So did you. You looked absolutely murderous!" Piper returned.

"Your laugh was enough to send chills through anyone!" Hazel exclaimed, still a little unnerved by it.

Piper laughed; her usual warm, friendly laugh and Hazel relaxed again.

The two took a step back. "So would you like to spar, Hazel?" Piper asked.

"I would, but I should find the others first." Hazel replied.

"Yes, they have been dying to see you again. I'll be here when you come back and we can spar, okay?"

"Alright, that sounds fun," Hazel said as she made her way out of the arena.

"Percy and Annabeth are by the beach." Piper called after her.

"Thanks, see you later!" Hazel called.

It didn't take Hazel very long to find Percy and Annabeth. They were sitting at the end of the dock together with their feet hanging over the end. "Percy! Annabeth!"

They both turned around and when they saw her, stood up and ran toward her, engulfing her in a big hug. "Hazel! It's so good to see you again!" Percy almost yelled in his excitement.

"It's good to see you guys too." Hazel replied, a huge grin on her face as she hugged them both back.

When they broke away, Annabeth asked "Is there anything new in New Rome lately?"

"Not much, just the usual war games and stuff."

After a couple minutes of catching up, Hazel told them she had to find Leo and return to the training area to spar with Piper. "See you later!"

Hazel paused at the door to the forges and knocked. Then she opened the door and took a step inside. She was immediately bombarded with everything that was happening inside. "Duck!" Someone yelled. Before Hazel could react, someone with curly brown hair and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt ran into her, toppling her over.

"Leo! What's going on?" Then Hazel noticed fire in the air above her. She stared at it, shocked.

After the fire dissipated, Leo stood up and offered her a hand. "Sorry 'bout that," he said with a crazy grin on his face.

"What was that?" Hazel asked, taking Leo's hand and pulling herself up. The forge had desks pushed against the wall on all sides with small fires underneath each desk. There were Hephaestus kids scattered around the room, and in the middle, there was a big table. Leo led her to the table in the middle and gestured to a small bronze dragon.

The dragon was about a foot long and was moving by itself, walking around and sniffing other parts that were strewn across the tabletop. "It's a mini Festus?" Hazel asked, not daring to get too close to it.

"Yes, his name is ευτυχισμένος, it means 'Happy' in Greek. He is going to be Jason's birthday present!"

Hazel smiled. "That's cool. Since the Greek dragon is Happy in Latin, you are naming the Roman dragon Happy in Greek?"

"Yep!"

"Is he safe yet?" Hazel asked.

"Yes, I'm just trying to teach him to write Jason's name in flames."

Hazel put her hand on the table and let the mini-Festus come sniff her hand. "Can't you just program that into him?"

Leo looked at her incredulously. "Where's the fun in that?"

Hazel laughed, gently stroking the dragon beneath the chin. She could have sworn the dragon was making a little purring noise, but it was a little hard to tell with all of the background noise of the other Hephaestus kids banging on things. "I should go back to the training arena. I promised Piper I'd spar with her."

"Okay, don't tell anyone about ευτυχισμένος. It has to be a surprise."

Leo led Hazel to the door with the dragon flying around their heads. "Okay, see you later then." Hazel said as she waved at Leo.

"See you later," Leo said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hazel 2/5**

The next day, Nico was forced to go to breakfast at the same time as everyone else. Hazel had woken him up and pleaded for him to come eat with her. Nico had relented so Hazel would not have to sit at the Hades table by herself.

After they had gotten their food, sacrificed some to the gods, and sat down, Hazel asked what was on their schedule for the day.

"Well, usually, since I am the only one in the Hades cabin, I can go to whatever I want when I want because it doesn't mess with everyone else's schedule much. You can choose what we do today." Nico responded.

"What are some of the activities?" Hazel asked before taking a bite of her pancakes.

"There is archery, sword-fighting, Pegasus-riding, canoeing-" Nico broke off as he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, Nico." Nico half-turned on the bench seat to look up at Will, who was standing behind him.

"Hey Will. Will, this is my sister, Hazel Levesque. Hazel this is Will Solace, son of Apollo."

"Hello Hazel, I'd give you a hug, but" Will nodded to the two trays he was holding. One for him and one for Fred **(Get it? Son of Apollo named Fred? Ring any bells? I'm sorry, I'll stop)** , a new Apollo camper who was 8 years old.

Hazel smiled. "It's fine."

Will looked at Nico and raised an eyebrow. Nico translated this as _Have you told her about you doing gymnastics yet?_ Nico shook his head once, almost imperceptibly, but luckily Will caught on and turned his attention away. Unfortunately, he moved his attention to Nico's food, or lack thereof.

"Is that all you're eating?" Nico looked at his biscuit, sitting in the perfect center of his plate, untouched.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yes, Solace, that's what I usually eat for breakfast."

Will moved one tray to the crook of his arm so he could use his free hand to take an apple from his plate and placed it on Nico's. "Eat that." Nico just glared at the apple, knowing it was pointless to argue. Will looked at Hazel, his eyes sparkling a little. "Make sure he eats it." Will winked at her.

Hazel's smiled widened and she winked back. "I will, don't worry."

"Will!" Fred's voice came from the Apollo table.

"I'd better go, nice to meet you Hazel, see you two later." With that, Will adjusted the two trays and made his way to the Apollo table to deliver the food.

Nico sighed and took a bite from the apple. Hazel smiled. "I like him. You should hang out with him more often."

Nico gave her a slightly wary, slightly suspicious look. "Why?"

Hazel shrugged. "I am just letting you know what I think of him. What are the rest of the activities?" Hazel asked, changing the subject.

"There is a lava rock wall and some other activities that I can't remember right now. I have a list in my cabin somewhere."

* * *

The list they had found had all of the cabins' schedules on it, which may or may not have influenced Hazel's choices and it may or may not be a coincidence that two of the four activities she decided to do were at the same time as the Apollo cabin. They decided to go Pegasus-riding first, followed by the lava rock wall, then lunch. (They were getting started late because a certain son of Hades did not want to emerge from his cabin again before eleven o'clock) Then sword-fighting, and lastly, archery. Then they would have the rest of the day off.

Hazel was excited to try riding a pegasus. She had grown up riding horses, but hasn't tried riding a pegasus before. When they got there, they noticed that most of the campers were already on their pegasi and taking off. The only people who were not already in the air were Fred, who was still trying to get on his pegasus, and Will, who, as cabin counselor, was helping him.

Hazel chose a white pegasus with some black markings named Cupcake. It didn't take her long to calm Cupcake down for her to ride. Hazel looked around. She wasn't sure how to get on the pegasus without hurting its wings.

Nico was busy trying to get Blackjack to come out of his stable. Nico had been coming to the stables frequently to give Percy's pegasus some sugar cubes in the hopes that Blackjack would decide he liked the son of Hades. So far, it looked like they were going to get along well – Blackjack hasn't kicked Nico yet, so that's a good sign.

Will was still helping Fred, who seemed scared of getting his feet off the ground to get on his pegasus. "Will, how do you get on her?" Hazel asked, leading Cupcake over and gently stroking his nose.

Will glanced over, saw who it was and smiled at her. Then he looked around, saw Nico trying to calm Blackjack down, and raised an eyebrow. "I am assuming you picked what you guys are doing today?"

"Yes, how'd you guess?" Hazel asked.

Will looked at Hazel and gestured to Nico without looking. "Just a hunch. So you haven't ridden a pegasus before?" Will asked.

"No, I've ridden horses ever since I can remember, but never a pegasus."

Will nodded, "So you just need to know where to sit?"

"Yes, please."

Will turned to Fred, who he had finally managed to get on the pegasus. "Will you be okay if I go get a pegasus?"

"Yes, you should get the golden one with the black mane." Fred said.

"Buttercup?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, I'll be right back." Will told them and disappeared into the stables to get Buttercup.

Once inside, he saw Nico still persuading Blackjack to come out of the stables. "Do you need help?" Will asked.

Nico scowled. "No, I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own." Nico ran his hand along Blackjack's muzzle, and surprisingly to Will, the Pegasus whinnied affectionately.

"Okay, your sister is still outside." Will said as he opened Buttercup's stable. Buttercup immediately came up to him and snorted in his hair, sniffing him. Will laughed, leading the pegasus out of the stables.

Outside, Will joined the trio. Nico was still petting Blackjack; apparently, the pegasus liked the son of Hades on the ground, but was not too keen on the idea of letting him ride him. "Alright, Hazel, you get up on a pegasus the same way you would a regular horse, just make sure you put your legs in front of the wing joints," Will swung himself up onto Buttercup, showing her. "If you put your legs behind the wing joints, the joint will get irritated and that could lead to some medical issues."

Hazel nodded and hopped up onto Cupcake as if she had been doing this her whole life. "Perfect." Will said.

Hazel smiled as she led Cupcake around in a circle, allowing the pegasus to get used to her and for her to get used to the pegasus. Will glanced at Nico, who looked almost ready to get on Blackjack. Assuming the son of Hades could do it himself, Will turned back to Fred to explain how to tell the pegasus what you want him to do without hurting him.

It wasn't long before the four of them were in the air. Will was impressed at how well Hazel could ride. Even if she had been riding horses her whole life, she could control the pegasus easily and Cupcake seemed to really like her.

Nico, on the other hand, was having a little difficulty. Blackjack would cooperate most of the time, but there were multiple times when the pegasus took off, carrying Nico with him until Blackjack decided to come back to the group. The first time this happened, Will had panicked a bit and had Buttercup follow them. It was obvious to Will that Blackjack was just playing around. He had to admit it was a little cute how every time Blackjack took off, Nico would let out a short stream of Italian curse words, much to Hazel's embarrassment.

Fred was doing very well. Will made sure to keep by him in case he needed help, but he did very well for his first time.

* * *

The second activity was the lava rock wall. No one else was scheduled there in this time slot, so Nico was slightly surprised when they saw two figures heading that way. When they got to the climbing wall, they saw that the two figures were Percy and Annabeth. "Hey guys!" Annabeth greeted when they arrived.

"Hi Percy, Hi Annabeth!" Hazel greeted. Nico nodded to them both.

"I am going to beat you, Wise Girl." Percy said, obviously carrying on a previous argument.

"Keep telling yourself that." Annabeth replied.

"Are you racing?" Hazel asked.

"It's hardly a race," Percy said "we all know who is going to win."

Nico nodded, unable to resist the temptation. "Don't worry Percy, you don't have to be the best at everything."

Percy pouted. Annabeth gave Nico a high-five. Then Nico walked over to the control panel. "You want everything on?"

Annabeth nodded, "If Hazel is okay with that. It is her first time."

Hazel crossed her arms. "Of course that's okay. I can handle it."

"I know you can, just checking."

"Ready?" Nico asked, holding his finger above a button.

"Yes!"

"Set?"

"Yes!"

"And…"

"Yes!" Percy yelled.

Nico didn't waste time wondering why Percy had responded to 'and,' knowing that he would never be able to figure out the answer, and pressed the button to activate the climbing wall.

Percy and Annabeth raced to the bottom of the wall with Hazel right behind them. Nico raced after them, quickly catching up to Hazel. He kept pace with her as she climbed, staying right beside her in case she needed help. "You don't have to stay with me, you can go ahead. I can take care of myself." Hazel said, sounding a little put out that Nico was deliberately not going too far away from her.

They were about halfway up. "I know." Nico replied. He also knew that if in a one in a million chance actually happened and Hazel actually did need help, and Nico _wasn't_ there, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He stayed close to her the whole time despite Hazel insisting that he could go on.

When they reached the top, they heard Percy and Annabeth arguing. "I was the first up here."

"You pulled me down!" Percy exclaimed.

Annabeth shrugged. "We never said we couldn't sabotage one another."

"But…"

"Race you back down, and no sabotaging!" Annabeth said as she started back down the wall.

Percy rushed to follow her. "Wise Girl! I will beat you!" Nico heard Annabeth's laugh from below. Nico looked at Hazel, then followed her gaze out to the horizon. The two siblings stood like that for a while looking at the view before making their way down again, Nico still not leaving Hazel's side.

 **A/N: Thank you toolazytosignin for pointing out that Will had seen Nico in the Hawaiian shirt. I can't believe I forgot that! It should be fixed now.**

 **Sorry about that.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hazel 3/5**

After having lunch, Hazel and Nico put on some armor and made their way to the training arena for sword-fighting. When they got there, the Apollo Cabin was already inside, grabbing their swords. After the Apollo kids left with their swords, Hazel walked over and picked one up. She could use her sword, but she thought she should try using a regular-length sword today.

The weapon she chose was celestial bronze with a leather grip. The blade was about as long as her forearm. Then, she and Nico went to one side of the arena where there weren't any people. Nico pulled out his stygian iron sword and crouched in a battle position.

Hazel did the same. The two sparred for a little while. Nico was obviously not attacking her as forcefully as he was able, staying more on the defensive, letting Hazel get in some practice with her temporary sword. After about five minutes, Nico disarmed her.

Hazel took a step back, panting. Nico looked as if he hadn't even started yet. He grinned. "Ready to go again? You should try to work on moving forward and backward a little faster. You don't have the reach that you normally do with that." Nico waved his sword in the direction of Hazel's sword.

Hazel nodded, starting to get her breath back. She looked around. "Hey Will!"

Will looked up from where he was sparring with another Apollo kid. His opponent disarmed him and he shrugged and said something to his sibling before coming toward Hazel. "What's up?" He asked.

"Would you like to help me beat Nico?" Hazel asked sweetly.

Will grinned. "I'm not very good at fighting, but if it's two against one we may have a chance." The son of Apollo said.

They both turned to Nico, who shrugged. "You can try."

Hazel and Will stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing Nico. Simultaneously, they each moved in separate directions and swung their swords at Nico from each side.

Somehow, Nico managed to spin and block both of them. His movement was almost too fast for Hazel to see what happened and was _definitely_ too fast for her to avoid. There were two loud _clangs_ one right after the other and Nico stood there, already waiting for their next attack, an excited gleam in his eyes.

Hazel exchanged a glance with Will. This time, Hazel swung at Nico's chest while Will swung at his legs. Once again, somehow, Nico managed to jump over Will's sword and simultaneously block Hazel's and guide it away from him.

The three of them battled together for a long time. Nico miraculously avoiding getting hit by either one of their attacks and any time Nico decided to go on the offensive, he would have to watch his back and didn't have much time to attack before he had to defend himself again.

"What are…"

 _Crash_

"…you guys…"

 _Clash_

"…doing today?" Will asked between gasps for breath and swinging his sword.

"We are going to go to archery next, then have dinner." Nico replied quickly.

 _Clang_

"Then hang out I guess, until you come over, then go to the campfire tonight." Nico said, still not even slightly out of breath. He was obviously in battle mode and didn't have to think much about what to do. His body was responding to the others' strikes on its own. Hazel heard Nico say that Will was coming over, she assumed to the Hades Cabin, but didn't have any time to think about it. She was a little busy swinging her sword around, trying to disarm her brother.

"I'm in…"

 _Crash_

"…infirmary after…"

 _Clang_

"…this…" Will's voice ended sounding like a question.

 _Clash_

Nico must have understood what Will was asking because he replied. "We'll come visit you after archery."

 _Crash_

Hazel and Will glanced at each other, their eyes portraying their doubt that they could win this fight against Nico. The three of them had been sparring for about ten minutes straight, with no one gaining any ground. They were evenly matched.

Then Hazel and Will both smiled at each other and dropped their swords at the same time. Nico froze with his sword out in front, unsure of what they were doing.

Hazel stepped to Nico's left side while Will stepped to his right. Nico glanced at them out of the corners of eyes. "What-"

Then, Hazel and Will stepped forward and wrapped the son of Hades in a hug. Nico dropped his sword in surprise. "What are you doing?" He managed to choke out.

Hazel smiled. "Giving you a hug." She replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world for people to just stop sparring mid-fight and hug. Will laughed, holding on to his friend tightly.

Nico groaned and struggled, but relaxed when he realized he couldn't break their grip on him. He sighed instead.

Hazel and Will let go when they noticed the rest of the Apollo cabin getting ready to leave the arena. Will flashed a smile at the siblings one more time and ran off to his cabin mates. "Bye guys, see you later!" Will said, still a little out of breath.

"See you later Will." Nico said and Hazel waved.

* * *

After Nico and Hazel took off their armor, they went to the supply closet at one end of the training arena and got out some arrows, a bow, and a target for each of them. Then they went to the opposite side of the training arena and set up. By the time they had set up with the targets about 20 feet from them, the Hermes Cabin was just starting to come in for their class.

Nico and Hazel each nocked an arrow and let it fly. Both arrows missed their intended targets, actually getting closer to the opposite target.

"Oops," Hazel let out a half embarrassed, half amused laugh.

Nico shrugged. He had only tried archery a couple of times and had never been very good at it. He preferred to use his sword. Hazel had also tried a couple of times because Frank liked using it, but since the Romans were not very fond of archery, she hadn't gotten the chance to really try until now.

A few more minutes of shooting unsuccessfully and Nico finally got one to stick on the target. "I did it!" Nico said, sounding surprised.

Hazel looked at the arrow to see that it had barely hit the edge of the target and looked as though it would fall off at any second. "I guess that's progress; good job."

When they ran out of arrows and went to pick them up to start again, Hazel noticed that Nico had left his arrow in the target. When she looked at him questioningly, he replied "I'm going to see what my best is."

Hazel nodded and started shooting again. About twenty minutes later, Nico had hit the target four more times including one really lucky shot almost right in the middle, and Hazel had hit the target seven times, all around the outside. "This sucks," Nico said when he went to pick up his fallen arrows once again.

"Yeah," Hazel sighed.

"Do you want to leave early?" Nico asked.

"Can we?"

"Yeah, no one will try to keep us here."

"Alright."

The two siblings put their supplies away and grabbed their armor. Nico was glad that the Hermes kids had left it alone. They probably knew better than to mess with two children of the Underworld. Then they went to their cabin to put their armor back, and without a word they both walked to the infirmary.

When they stepped inside, they were greeted by Kayla at the receptionist desk. "Hey Nico, and you must be Hazel."

Hazel smiled warmly at her and shook her hand. "Yep, that's me."

"Hello Hazel, I'm Kayla, daughter of Apollo." Then Kayla turned to face Nico again. "Will is just through there. He's helping Leo."

"What's wrong with Leo?" Hazel asked.

"Well, he was working on a project and got a little scratched up. Don't worry, it's not bad, you can go see them now."

Hazel and Nico walked through the doors that Kayla had indicated to and saw Leo sitting on a bed right by the door with Will standing in front of him. Leo's shirt was off, revealing a set of scratches wrapping from the left side of his chest, around his shoulder, and onto his back. "Hey, Nico, could you grab me those bandages, please?" Will said, hardly looking up and gesturing to the bed across from Leo.

"Hazel! What are you doing here? What's up?" Leo asked, his usual grin on his face.

"Leo, what happened?" Hazel asked as Nico handed Will the bandages.

"I was working on my _project_ " Leo paused and winked at Hazel. She understood that he was talking about ευτυχισμένος with Leo's first wink and fought the urge to roll her eyes when he continued to wink two more times to make sure she got the message. "And it needs some adjustments, apparently."

Nico glanced at Hazel questioningly, most likely because of Leo's excessive winking and she gave him an _I'll tell you later_ look. He nodded.

"I gave you all of the ambrosia you should have right now and wrapped the scratches up so they won't get infected. Take some more ambrosia in a couple of hours and you should be fine by tomorrow. If not, come back, okay?" Will asked Leo.

Leo jumped up and saluted Will. "Thanks, Doc."

Will stood up straight. "Dismissed," he said with a grin. Leo turned sharply and disappeared through the doors. Then Will sat on the bed that Leo had been sitting on and turned to Nico and Hazel. "You guys are early, I thought you were going to archery. There should still be about," Will glance at a clock on the wall, "ten minutes left." Each class was supposed to only last about 30-45 minutes because a demigod's ADHD meant that they could barely concentrate on one thing long enough for that amount of time, even if it is something as crazy as sword-fighting.

Nico groaned and sat down on the bed next to Will. "We suck."

Hazel gave a small smile and sat down across from the boys.

Will looked at her for confirmation. "It's true." Hazel consented.

A slow smile spread across Will's face. "Me too, I can hardly ever get the bulls-eye."

"You don't understand, Will." Nico said. "We _suck._ "

"You can't be that bad."

"In the 20 minutes we spent there, shooting arrows, I hit the target _five_ times."

"Well, maybe I can actually teach you something then." Will said, a little teasingly. "I don't usually get to teach anyone, but I might be able to help you."

Nico gave him a half-hearted glare.

"That sounds like a good idea." Hazel said. "I want to be able to shoot an arrow, even if not very well, but today was just embarrassing."

After the three of them had spent some time together in the infirmary, they headed down to eat dinner, then Nico and Hazel headed back to their cabin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hazel 4/5**

In their cabin, Nico and Hazel settled on the floor to play mythomagic. "What is the plan for the rest of the day?" Hazel asked after two hours and four games (all of which Hazel lost).

Nico glanced at a clock hanging on the wall. "Will is probably on his way over, so I should show you…" Nico's voice trailed off as he walked over to his bed.

Hazel watched as Nico moved the skull pillow and put some numbers in a keypad. Then she saw stairs come down from the ceiling. "Whoa... How…?"

Nico smiled and gestured for his sister to follow him up the stairs. Trust his sister to find the _stairs_ impressive. He understood how she felt though. "It's pretty amazing what you can buy in the stores these days," Nico explained. "I bought a set and just had to follow some instructions to put it in. It was simple, really."

When Nico reached the second floor, he watched Hazel come after him. He saw her eyes grow wide. "Nico, do you do gymnastics?" Hazel paused. "That was a dumb question. Why else would you have all of this stuff up here? How long have you been doing this?" She asked instead.

Nico's gaze flickered from Hazel to his feet and back to Hazel. "Ever since I can remember."

Hazel smiled and hugged him tightly. Nico returned the embrace until there was a knock on the door and a panel slid out to reveal a screen in the wall. The screen showed Will standing on the front porch.

Nico walked over to the panel, tipped it forward, and pushed a button. "Come in, Will."

Will smiled at the camera and disappeared into the cabin.

Hazel crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So Will knows about this?"

Nico nodded.

"How did he know before your own sister?" Hazel teased.

Nico looked at his feet. "He walked in on me when I was stretching." Nico mumbled.

Hazel wasn't sure what to say to that, but was saved when Will jumped up from the stairs. "Isn't this incredible!"

Hazel smiled and looked around again. "Yes, it is."

"Oh! Has Nico shown you his handstand on the rings?"

"No, we just came up here," Hazel said while Nico glared at the son of Apollo.

Will turned to look at Nico. "Will you show her? Pleeeaaaase?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Fine, just let me change first." Nico opened a cabinet hidden in the wall and took out some clothes. Then he disappeared into the bathroom.

"So Will, you would do anything for Nico, wouldn't you?" Hazel asked after Nico closed the door, crossing her arms.

Different emotions flickered across Will's face. Shock, then nervousness, then determination. "Yes, I would." Will answered confidently.

Hazel smiled. "I thought so." Hazel looked around. "Can you use all of this?"

"Oh, gods, no." Will replied, laughing a little. "I just perfected a cartwheel about a week ago. There is no way I could do everything that Nico does."

"How did he even get everything up here? Like the trapeze?"

Will rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I actually put the trapeze up for his birthday."

Hazel stared at the son of Apollo for a second, then gave him a quick hug. "You are the best." Hazel whispered.

Will laughed. "Do you want to try it? A safety net appears when you fall down. It's really pretty fun."

Hazel grinned. "Yes!"

Will climbed up the ladder and used the trapeze to swing himself through the air and landed on the net. Hazel followed and landed beside him. "That is such a great idea! How did you do that?"

"I, uh, had Lou Ellen from the Hecate Cabin enchant it to appear whenever someone needs it."

"Brilliant!"

The door to the bathroom opened and Nico walked out wearing all dark blue clothes. He didn't give any reaction to seeing them up on the safety net, but just kept walking toward the rings.

"Follow me." Will said as he led Hazel above the trampoline. The safety net disappeared and they bounced a couple of times before running to catch up to Nico.

Nico stepped in between the two rings and gripped them. Then he flipped himself upside down. He had improved a lot since the first time Will had seen him try this. This time, Nico was able to bring his legs straight up immediately rather than bring his body up first and then straightening his legs like the first time. He also didn't shake nearly as badly as the first time.

"Wow," Hazel breathed.

Then Nico flipped back around, landing perfectly. "I did it," Nico gave a small, satisfied smile.

"Go Nico!" Will cheered.

"That is amazing." Hazel said, still staring at Nico.

The son of Hades shrugged. "It took a really long time to get perfect."

"I bet."

"Hazel, do you want to try anything?" Nico asked.

"No, thank you though. I think I'll go find Piper or Leo."

"Okay, the campfire starts in about an hour, if you meet us here, we'll go down there with you." Nico said. Will nodded.

Nico was glad that Hazel had reacted the way she did. He knew that she would accept his gymnastics, but he wasn't sure if he could handle another Will bouncing around the place.

"Okay, see you guys then." Hazel walked toward the stairs. "Oh yeah, Nico, I won't tell anyone about this. I assume no one else knows?"

"Right, not even Frank?" Nico asked with a small, teasing smile.

"Not even Frank."

Nico gave her a grateful smile and she disappeared down the stairs. After Hazel had left the Hades Cabin, Nico used his special control panel hidden behind the screen to relock the door. Then he turned back to Will. "So what do you want to work on today?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Hazel 5/5**

About an hour after they split, Nico and Will met Hazel in the main part of the Hades Cabin. "Are you ready?" Nico asked an excited Hazel.

"Definitely."

The trio made their way to the pavilion where the campfire would take place. "What have you been doing for the past hour?" Nico asked his sister.

"I went to find Piper and we just hung out for a while. What were you two working on?"

"We are making our own trapeze routine!" Will said enthusiastically.

"We already learned some tricks so we are just putting them together." Nico said, hiding his excitement better than the son of Apollo.

"I want to do it for a talent show here sometime." Will said, giving Nico a glance.

The son of Hades sighed as if they had had this conversation before. "No, we are the only people that even know we can do it."

"Which is why we could show everyone!" Will said, even though he knew that he wouldn't win this argument and he frankly didn't mind.

"No, there is a reason why you two are the only people that know."

Will didn't reply because they had arrived at the pavilion. Nico led the way to where Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo were sitting. Nico sat down next to the wall, Will beside him and Hazel next to him, but close enough to the rest of their friends so she could move between the two groups easily.

Each day a different cabin was in charge of the campfire. Today it was the Dionysus' cabin and the two kids there, Pollux and Geminga (a new camper), were in a partying mood. The first song to be played was "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake.

Nico watched as all of the demigods around him (there were a few exceptions, like Clovis from the Hypnos cabin) started jumping up and waving their arms around like the lunatics they all are. Will jumped up and held his hand out trying to get Nico to dance with him. "So just dance, dance, dance, come on," Will sang in time with the music.

"Will, I really don't-"

"But you dance, dance, dance and ain't nobody leaving soon so keep dancing," Will sang, cutting off Nico's protests. Will gripped Nico's wrists and pulled him up. Then started moving Nico's arms around in time to the music, still singing.

Nico let his arms go limp and allowed Will to move his arms around, not helping at all. Will grinned and rolled with it, dancing through the whole song.

When the song ended, Nico sat back down and Will plopped down beside him, slightly out of breath. "Tell me you enjoyed that,"Will said.

Nico shrugged. He _had_ kind of maybe a little bit liked the feeling of Will's hands wrapped around his wrists – not that he would admit that.

Then the next song, Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon started. Will didn't try to get Nico to dance with him this time because of his less-than-enthusiastic response to the last one. Instead, Hazel came over and held out her hand to her brother. Nico took it and stood up willingly, if a little reluctantly.

Will watched as they clasped hands and spun around in a circle in time to the music. Will tried not to feel disappointed that Nico would dance for Hazel, but not for him. There were a couple of reasons why Nico felt more comfortable this time. First, this was Hazel. Everyone knew the son of Hades has a big soft spot for his sister. Secondly, the dance style this time is a lot different than what Will was doing. Hazel and Nico spun around fluidly instead of jumping around like a maniac like Will had been.

Then Hazel dropped one of Nico's hands and held it out for Will, an invitation to join them. Will didn't hesitate. He jumped up from where he was sitting on the bench and grabbed Hazel's offered hand and took Nico's gently.

The three of them spun around in time to the music, at one point the only thing keeping them from falling down was their connected hands. Will could hear Nico and Hazel's laughter and was struck by how similar they sounded. They both had an element of happiness and innocence – despite what they'd been through.

Will was trying to sing along with the lyrics, but he kept cutting himself off with his own laughter.

As the song's tempo slowed and stopped, the trio also slowed down and stopped. Will was very dizzy by the end and went to sit down again. He leaned his back against the wall and sat with one leg on each side of the bench.

When the dizziness dissipated, Will noticed that the sun was going down and it was starting to get cold out despite the big orange fire in the middle of the pavilion. He wrapped his arms around himself and glanced at Nico, who had sat down in front of him. Nico was hugging himself as if he was cold too. "Nico, are you cold?"

Nico looked at him, then at himself, then he must have decided there was no point in pretending. "Yeah, maybe a little."

Will held out his arms. Nico scooted a little closer, but Will wasn't satisfied. He leaned forward, wrapped his arms around Nico's torso and leaned back again so he was resting his back on the wall again and Nico's back was resting on Will's chest. Will ignored the way Nico tensed up when he touched the younger boy and left his hands clasped, resting on Nico's stomach.

The two stayed like that as the next song started. They watched as their friends tried to teach Hazel the actions to the demigod song about Grandma putting on her armor.

Will could feel Nico start to relax after a minute and thought about how many things could have gone wrong in the past year. The Seven could have failed on their quest to defeat the giants, Nico could have failed in bringing the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood, Reyna could have refused to help the Greeks, Nico could have melted into a pile of darkness after bringing the statue, and a million another things could have gone wrong.

But it didn't.

It turned out fine.

Like always.

Hazel's voice brought Will back to reality. "Will, is Nico asleep?" The song had ended and Hazel was sitting on the bench next to Will's right so she could talk to Will easily.

Will glanced down at Nico, which was a little hard to do since Nico's head was just below Will's chin, but he managed to get a glimpse of Nico's closed eyes and felt his steady breathing. Will glanced at Hazel and nodded, trying not to make too much movement. How Nico managed to fall asleep with all of the screaming/singing demigods, Will didn't know.

Hazel smiled. "You know, he must feel really comfortable around you." Hazel said after a moment. Will gave her a questioning glance and unconsciously tightened his grip on the younger boy. "There are not a lot of people that Nico feels comfortable enough to fall asleep in the same room with, let alone fall asleep _on_. Have you noticed that he tries not to sleep around other people unless he absolutely needs to? I am surprised he feels okay with sleeping at the campfire with so many other people around. Maybe we are far enough away from everyone else?"

Will looked around. They weren't very far from the large crowd of people. Maybe Nico was just so exhausted he couldn't stay awake any longer.

The next song started. "Gotta go!" Hazel said as she left to join the others.

Will watched as everyone else danced around like lunatics. It was weird; usually he was one of those people dancing the whole time, not caring how late it was or who saw him, but this…this was nice too…

* * *

"I still think we should take Nico to the Hades cabin and then come back to take Will to the Apollo cabin."

"Nah, I say we just leave them both here. They look content enough."

"Well, I say we take our boy Nico to the Hades cabin and leave the Apollo cabin to come get Will." A voice that Will recognized as Leo's said. _Gee, thanks._ Will opened his eyes to see Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and Hazel standing above him and Nico, who was in the same position as before, still sleeping on Will. It was still dark out and most of the other demigods had left the campfire already.

"Hey, Will, you're awake." Hazel said. "Do you want to help us carry Nico to the Hades cabin?" Will wondered how they would bring Nico all the way to the Hades cabin without waking the son of Hades up. His confusion must have showed on his face because Hazel continued.

"Nico is naturally a very deep sleeper, so he probably won't wake up. He trained himself to wake up to certain things like the sound of a sword or knife being drawn or the sound of an enemy's footsteps. How he can tell the difference between friends' footsteps and enemies' footsteps in his sleep, I will never know."

"Alright," Will said, hooking his arms underneath Nico's to help lift him up. Percy and Annabeth each took one of Nico's legs while Piper and Leo helped support the smaller boy's body. Hazel walked around them, making sure they wouldn't trip on anything. Will tried to keep Nico's head cradled on Will's chest to keep it as still as possible.

When they reached the Hades cabin, Hazel held the door open and the demigods shuffled inside and laid Nico on his bed. With that job done, most of the demigods left, leaving Will and Hazel, who went to the bathroom to change into her pajamas.

Will took a blanket off of an adjacent bed and threw it over Nico and tucked him in, making sure that the son of Hades would be comfortable. When Hazel came back out of the bathroom, she was wearing emerald green silk pajamas and sat on the empty bed across from her brother. Hazel smiled. "Thank you."

Will nodded absently, looking at Nico. Then, not caring that Hazel was watching, Will leaned down and kissed Nico's forehead. A small smile spread across Nico's face and when Will turned to leave, he found himself being hugged by the daughter of Pluto. "You are the best," she whispered.

"Th-thank you?" Will wasn't sure what to say, but when he left the Hades cabin and was on his way to his own bed, the truth hit him. He had just _kissed_ Nico! Sure, it was on the forehead, but still. He actually _kissed_ him!


	10. Chapter 10

**1/4**

"Are you sure you want to prank _him_?" Person A asked.

"Yes," Person B replied confidently.

"But why?" Person C asked.

"I want to get him to loosen up a bit," Person B responded.

"That's a good reason," Person A relented.

"We've tried that before…" Person C started.

"…but his revenge…" Person A continued.

"…is brutal." Person C ended.

"But I'm me." Person B argued.

"That's true but-" Person A was cut off.

"Do you have any ideas or not?" Person B asked, impatient.

"Of course we do," Person A said, sounding a little offended.

"The question is…" Person C started.

"…do you want to go through with it?" Person A and C said at the same time.

"Someone's coming!" Person B said loudly.

"Shh" Person C tried to cover Person B's mouth, but couldn't see well enough in the dark and slapped him in the forehead instead.

"If we're quiet, maybe they won't find us." Person A whispered.

* * *

Annabeth was searching the camp for Percy. It was getting near time for lunch and she knew that he likes to be at the pavilion early. She opened the door to the Poseidon cabin and heard a voice that she recognized. "Someone's coming!" Annabeth looked around the cabin, but didn't see anyone.

She walked over to a door in the side of the cabin and opened it. Two people ran past her. "Hey, Annabeth!" Travis (Person A) yelled as he ran past.

"We don't have any part in this!" Connor (Person C) called as he ran out the door of the Poseidon cabin with his brother.

Annabeth looked into the opened space, which appeared to be a closet and saw her boyfriend sitting on the floor. He stood up with a sheepish grin on his face. "Hey, Annabeth."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "What have you been up to?"

Percy (Person B) rubbed the back of his neck. "You probably don't want to know."

Annabeth thought about this for a minute. Of course she wanted to know, she's a daughter of Athena, but she could tell by Percy's expression that anything he planned wouldn't be against her, (he didn't look quite guilty enough for that) and knowing that the Stoll brothers were involved…maybe it would be safer not to know.

She just took her boyfriend's hand and pulled him out of the cabin, toward the dining pavilion. "Come on, it's almost time for lunch."

"Great!"

 **A/N: Sorry it's so short, but it is just the introduction and I apologize if the characters are a bit out of character in this one. It's supposed to be silly.**

 **And thank you to SlytherinPrefect for pointing out that the song Shut up and Dance is by Walk the Moons, not Walk Two Moons. I guess I was thinking of books, not songs.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Percy 2/4**

A couple of days later, Percy was in the forest looking for the Stolls. They had told him to meet them there to come up with a plan for Percy's prank, but he couldn't find them anywhere. He was just about to ask a tree nymph if she had seen the brothers when a pair of hands grabbed his arms and pulled him closer to the tree. Percy was about to yell, but another pair of hands clapped over his mouth before he could.

Then he was inside the tree. Percy saw two pairs of identical blue eyes and the hands that had been holding him slowly let go of him, ready to grab him again if Percy made any sudden moves.

It didn't take long for Percy's eyes to adjust to the darkness. He looked around and confirmed that he really was inside the tree. The tree was hollow with a thin opening in one side of it, just big enough for an average 17-year-old boy to squeeze through. There was a surprisingly large amount of space inside, although it was a little cramped with the three of them in there. Percy looked back at the two pairs of eyes. "Hey, Travis. Hey, Connor." Percy said, as if he got kidnapped and pulled into trees every day. "This one of your hiding spots?"

"Hey, Perce. Yes, it is, but we've got plenty more, so we thought it would be okay of you saw this one," Travis greeted.

"Besides," Connor said, shrugging, "It's not like you'll be able to find it again anyway."

Percy mentally took that as a challenge and promised himself that he would take careful note of which tree this was when he left and come back to find it again the next day.

"Are you still up for pranking Mr. Sunshine?" Travis asked, grinning.

"Or did you decide it's…"

"a death wish," Connor started and Travis finished.

"I'm definitely doing it," Percy reassured the brothers.

"Good, we have a couple of ideas."

About an hour later, the boys had most of the details worked out, such as how and when Percy would go to "Mr. Sunshine's" cabin. There was, however, one more major detail to be working out. "What are you going to do once you are in the victim's cabin?" Connor asked Percy.

"I want to spray paint everything blue!"

"Everything?" Travis asked skeptically.

"We've found that if you focus on one thing…" Connor started.

"it turns out better than if you go for 'everything.'" Travis ended, making air quotes.

Percy pouted; "Fine, maybe I'll paint – Oh, I know! – I'll paint his jar he has sitting on the ledge above his fireplace."

"Sounds like a good first goal, but are you sure you want to use blue? It would kinda give you away, dude." Travis asked.

Percy gave the brothers an incredulous look. "Of course I'm using blue!"

The brothers exchanged a quick conversation using their eyes.

 _He really shouldn't use blue. Mr. Sunshine will know it's him instantly._

 _True, but I don't think Percy will change his mind._

 _If he uses blue, I'm not sure we'll see him again._

 _Dude, better him than us. If he doesn't use blue, who do you think will get the blame?_

 _True, true. Blue it is._

The Stolls turned back to Percy simultaneously. "Good luck," they each grabbed one of Percy's arms and dragged him out of the tree, making sure to take him far enough away from their hideout and making a couple of unnecessary turns to help disorient the son of Poseidon. Percy struggled, but the brothers had gotten a good grip on him. By the time he managed to right himself, he didn't know which way they had come from.

The Stolls let go and Travis handed Percy a bag of supplies. "This should be all you need. There are some cool gifts from our dad in there, so don't lose them."

Percy hesitantly took the bag, wondering if it would explode when he opened it. He decided to check it when he got to his cabin to make sure nothing would happen while he was trying to complete his pranking mission. "Thanks guys," Percy said as he turned to head back to the camp (or where he though camp was).

The Stolls disappeared back into the woods.


	12. Chapter 12

**Percy 3/4**

It wasn't long before Percy decided to put his plan into action. The Stolls helped him come up with the plan, but Percy decided on most of the small details himself (with a few suggestions from the brothers). In hindsight, probably not the best decision on his part, but he didn't want the Pranking Kings to take over his mission.

Percy stood on top of Mr. Sunshine's cabin with a special tool that, according to the Stoll brothers, would cut through the roof and allow the son of Poseidon to slip through the roof and into the cabin below. The tool looked like a bar with a blade on one end and a suction cup on the other. He bent down and pushed the suction cup to the roof of the cabin. Then he took the bar and spun it around, pushing the blade into the roof. Once he had made one complete circle, Percy pulled the bar up. The suction cup stayed attached to the roof and pulled a small circular piece up with it. Percy set it aside and looked down into the cabin below him.

He couldn't see anything. He had picked a night with no moon so he wouldn't be caught by his victim or girlfriend as easily. He knew Annabeth would not approve of pranking Mr. Sunshine. But now, with no light, when he looked into the cabin, he couldn't tell how far or where he should jump.

Percy pulled a rope out of the small bag he had brought and attached it to the roof so he would have a way to get out again.

Percy looked down into the darkness again and decided to go for it. He jumped down and heard a crash as pain shot up his legs and he crumpled to the floor, which was a lot closer than he had expected it to be.

He tried to stand up and something hard rolled out from underneath him, causing him to fall back down. It felt a little like a bar, but why would Mr. Sunshine have a bar laying around? Every time Percy had been in this cabin, it had been clean, with almost no clutter, unlike his own cabin. Percy couldn't see anything and had a feeling that his eyes weren't going to get used to the darkness either. It was really dark with no moon, but being inside this cabin made it that much darker. Percy tried to stand up again, but when he did, something rolled out from underneath his foot and he fell down again, causing another loud crash. There was no way Mr. Sunshine didn't hear that.

* * *

Nico had been sleeping when a loud noise woke him up. He opened his eyes and moved his hand to the side of the bed, where he kept his sword. His grip tightened when he heard another crash come from above him.

Nico rolled over and punched in the numbers to make the stairs come down without a sound. Then Nico stood and walked over to the staircase, gripping his sword. Luckily, he could see in the dark and didn't have a problem finding the stairs.

He quickly and silently went up to the second floor and poked his head above to see what had made the noise.

What he saw really shouldn't have surprised him much. There was a hole in the ceiling and just below it, where the bars that Will liked to do somersaults over had been, was a mess, as if something heavy had fallen on top. About three feet away from the mess, Percy was facing away from Nico, holding his hands out in front of him, occasionally bumping into something and limping slightly. Percy had a small bag with him that Nico assumed held pranking supplies. Since there hadn't been any quests for Percy to go on, he had started to get into pranking and unfortunately, he was getting lessons from the best. Nico had figured it was only a matter of time before he became the son of Poseidon's next target.

A mischievous grin settled on the son of Hades' face. Why not give Percy a taste of his own medicine? Percy had come to prank Nico, but soon the tables will turn.

Nico climbed the rest of the stairs and took a couple of steps forward, making sure to plant his feet firmly so Percy would be able to hear.

Percy turned around to face Nico. "Nico? Is that you?"

Nico nudged a loose bar in front of him with his foot and listened to the noise of the bar rolling away from him.

"Nico?" Percy's voice had changed. He sounded more unsure of himself than he had the first time.

Nico shadow traveled to the other side. "Percy," Nico whispered just loud enough for Percy to barely catch what was said.

Percy spun around. "Nico?" His voice was almost a whisper now.

Nico shadow traveled back to the opposite side of the room, by the stairs, not bothering to hide the grin that was starting to spread across his face. "Percy," he whispered again at the same volume.

Percy spun around again, this time tripping over something. He let out a stifled yelp, as he fell. When he stood back up, Nico could see that Percy's stance had changed. He looked about ready for a fight.

Nico smiled; Percy was getting scared. Nico shadow traveled to the clear space by one wall. "Percy." Nico didn't wait to see Percy's reaction before disappearing into the shadows once again. "This is the famous Perseus Jackson?" Nico taunted, covering his mouth with one hand to mask his voice the best he could. He watched as Percy whirled around and cursed as he ran his face right into another pole.

Once Percy had got his bearings again, Nico noticed that he had his hand over his pocket, most likely where Percy kept Riptide. This gave Nico another idea. He shadow traveled to the opposite side.

"Percy," he whispered.

Percy spun around to face Nico and pulled Riptide out of his pocket and held it in front of him in pen form.

Nico saw his chance and shadow traveled right underneath Percy. The son of Poseidon must have sensed something because he took a step back, barely avoiding kicking Nico in the process. Nico reached up and grabbed on to Riptide, not letting go. Percy tried to yank it back, but Nico shadow traveled away, carefully using the shadows to bring the pen, but not Percy.

Usually, using his abilities this much at once would drain him, but this was such a short distance and it was so dark, that it didn't have much of a toll on his powers. He knew he would be tired the next day and if he had to summon anything else, he would be exhausted. Nico knew that Riptide would appear back in Percy's pocket eventually, so he had to be quick and follow through with his hastily made plan.

Nico shadow traveled right below the hole Percy had made in the ceiling and put Riptide down in the small clearing, then he shadow traveled back below to the main part of his cabin. He took a moment to gather himself. He wiped the grin off his face and rubbed his eyes to make it look like he had just woken up. Then he turned the lights on and walked up the stairs, as if he were just coming up for the first time. Once he was standing on the second floor, he saw Percy coming toward the light emanating from the stairs, limping slightly. "Percy, what are you doing here?" Nico asked, trying to sound surprised.

"Nico! There's something here." Percy didn't seem to notice all the gymnastics equipment, or at least didn't acknowledge it.

"You're right, there is something up here," Nico said levelly as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Percy as the demigod came to stand right in front of the son of Hades.

"You know something is up here? What is it? It wanted to kill me."

Nico rolled his eyes. " _You._ You are not supposed to be up here."

"But the voice kept calling my name and something took Riptide. I was standing over there." Percy gestured to the middle of the room (toward the mess) "and Riptide was pulled out of my hands."

"There's nothing here, Percy," Nico walked underneath the hole in the ceiling and Percy followed right behind him, not wanting to get separated. Nico bent down and picked up a pen sitting next to some bars and handed it to Percy. "You just dropped it. Nothing stole it from you."

Percy took the pen and uncapped it. It turned into his sword.

"But..."Percy pointed to where he had fallen into the cabin from the roof, then retraced his steps, frowning. There was no trace that anything had been there other than him.

"And was this…" Nico pointed up at the hole in the ceiling "…really necessary?"

Percy glanced up at the hole he had made and shrugged. Then he pointed toward one wall, focused on his predicament. "Then I heard my name from over there," Percy turned "and there" Percy turned to point at a third wall "and there." Percy turned to look at Nico, eyes narrowed. "Wait, was it you?"

Nico allowed himself a small smile.

"It was you!"

Nico shrugged. "You were going to prank me – and you cut a hole in my roof!"

"How'd you know I was going to prank you? What if I had come for a friendly visit?"

Nico gave Percy a look. "Through the ceiling? At night?"

Percy gave him a sheepish grin.

Nico gestured to Percy's bag. "Just a hunch. What were you planning to do, anyway?" Nico asked, hoping he could be prepared for the next time.

Percy pouted. "I was going to find something in your cabin to spray paint blue, but I didn't know you had a whole second floor. How long have you had it?"

"Ever since l remodeled it."

"Oh, why haven't I seen it before?"

"I installed stairs so no one would find my gymnastics equipment." Nico watched Percy for a reaction.

"Oh, so that's what the poles are for."

"Yeah," Nico waited for a couple of seconds to see if there would be any more to his reaction, but the son of Poseidon didn't say anything. "Aren't you going to say anything else about it?"

Percy looked around. "It's cool, what else do you want me to say? Is that a trapeze?" Percy asked, pointing.

"Yes."

Percy just grinned at him in response.

Nico didn't get any other reaction, so he waved Percy toward the stairs. "I guess I'll let you leave through the door instead of shoving you back up the hole in the ceiling."

"I'm sorry for the hole, okay? The Stolls gave me a tool to fix it. You'll never know it was there. I'll fix it tomorrow."

Nico waved one hand as he followed the son of Poseidon down the stairs. "I'll just summon a zombie or two to clean up your mess."

Percy threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

Once at the door, Nico took out his sword and held the blade barely an inch away from Percy's neck.

Percy's eyes widened comically as he went cross-eyed, trying to look at it. "Don't tell ANYONE about the gymnastics or the second floor."

"Not even Annabeth?" Percy had to ask.

"Not even Annabeth." Nico replied levelly.

"Fine." Percy said, wanting Nico to take the sword away so he could breathe properly and he assumed that Annabeth will figure it out without him telling her, if she doesn't know already. Besides, what's the big deal? Nico can do gymnastics and has a second floor in his cabin. Nothing surprised him anymore.

"And make sure to tell the Stolls to do their own pranks instead of sending you." Nico took his sword away and poked Percy in the side with the butt of it before opening the door.

"But it was my-" Percy cut himself off, deciding that it would be better to blame the Stolls than to have Nico's sword at his throat again. Besides, they were the ones who had gotten Percy into this whole pranking thing. Not to mention that Percy didn't want Nico getting revenge on him and that he still had to get the brothers back for the last prank they pulled on him. (Don't ask)


	13. Chapter 13

**Percy 4/4**

Will came to the Hades cabin to get Nico to go to breakfast with him. When Will didn't have to go to the infirmary right away in the morning, he made a point to bring Nico to breakfast to make sure he eats. Especially after finding out that he only eats a biscuit for breakfast. A _biscuit_! Will knocked on the door. There was no reply and Will took that as an invitation to enter. If Nico hadn't wanted him to come in, he would have said something.

Will opened the door and found the son of Hades still in bed, leaning against the headboard. "You don't look too peppy," Will said as he sat down beside Nico. Nico groaned in response. "Did nightmares keep you awake?" Will asked gently.

Nico shook his head. "Percy tried to prank me last night. He cut a hole in my roof and fell down to the gymnastics room. I heard him and messed with him a little." A smile worked its way onto Nico's face as he talked about shadow-travelling around the room and stealing Riptide.

"How was he planning to prank you?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "The idiot was going to spray paint something of mine blue."

Will smiled. "Lou and Cecil pranked me one time during lunch in the dining pavilion. Lou had made a potion and Cecil gave it to me, saying that it was a new drink to try. I had just met them, so I hadn't been expecting it. The potion made it feel like someone was tickling me for about ten minutes." Will shuddered. "It was terrible. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt and my eyes teared up."

"You're ticklish?" Nico asked.

"Yes," Will glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and saw a mischievous smile on the Ghost King's face. "Are you?" Will tried to get the attention away from him, and maybe, if Nico decided to try anything, Will would have something to fight back with.

Nico looked away, then back at Will, glaring. "No, of course not. I'm the son of Hades, Ambassador of Pluto, the Ghost King; of course I'm not-"

Will suddenly lunged forward and tickled Nico's sides and several things happened at once.

Nico let out a shriek – half laughter and half surprise. The ground rumbled, a large crack appeared, and a skeleton climbed out. And Nico fell limp.

Will paused in surprise. He had definitely not been expecting that reaction. Will turned his attention to the son of Hades who was now collapsed on his bed – ignoring the skeleton that was standing only about three feet away. "Nico, are you okay?" There was no response. Will quickly checked Nico's pulse. It was a little slow, but normal if the patient was asleep and Nico wasn't fading, so that was a good sign. Then Will checked Nico's breathing. Also normal if the patient was asleep. Will realized what must have happened.

Nico hadn't gotten much sleep last night because of Percy's disruption and he had used a lot of his powers with shadow-travelling to tease the son of Poseidon. Nico had also used his powers to summon a zombie to fix everything that Percy had damaged. Then, when Will had tickled him, Nico's immediate reaction was to use his powers to help him. He did so without thinking (Will hoped without thinking, or he knew he would be in for it when the son of Hades woke up) and that must have used up the last of Nico's powers. Now Nico just needed to take a quick nap to recharge.

Will pulled Nico's head into his lap and ran his hand through the younger boy's hair. It was so _soft_. Even softer than it looked. Will heard some noise and suddenly the door flew open. Percy and Annabeth ran inside. "What's wrong? We heard a shriek and came as fast as we could." Annabeth demanded.

"What happened?" Percy asked when he saw the skeleton, which was still standing in the middle of the Hades cabin, watching them with vacant eyes. Before Will could reply, the two demigods spotted Nico and were by his side instantly. "What's wrong with him? Will he be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I just startled him. He used his powers automatically and it drained him." Will replied.

"What did you do? I swear to Poseidon, if you tried to kiss-" Annabeth quickly covered Percy's mouth before he could finish that sentence.

Will felt his ears start to burn. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." Will said quickly, shaking his head. "I just tried to tickle him."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You tried to _tickle_ the son of Hades?"

Will rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah?"

Percy laughed. "You're in for it now."

Nico moved as if he was waking up and Will turned his full attention to helping him sit up.

Annabeth took Percy's hand and pulled him back toward the door. "Let's go, Percy."

"But we have to make sure our bro Nico is okay."

"Will has got it covered," Annabeth said, winking at Will when he looked over at the sound of his name.

Will looked back at Nico, not allowing himself to dwell on Annabeth's wink. Nico was now back in his previous position, back resting against his headboard. "Umm…sorry," Will said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't think you would react like that."

Nico waved one hand as if dismissing Will's words and the skeleton jumped into the crack in the floor, which closed up after him. "It's okay," Nico said, sounding tired.

"I came to see if you wanted to go to breakfast with me," Will said, "but I can tell you're tired, so if you don't want to, I won't force you today."

Nico smiled and suddenly lunged at Will, tickling him in the sides. Will fell over on the bed, laughing, unable to hold it in. "What? Nico?" Will couldn't say more than one word at a time due to the laughter bubbling out of his mouth. Nico obviously wasn't as tired as he appeared.

Will squirmed, trying to get out of Nico's reach, but he wasn't very successful. Will raised his hands up toward Nico and was about to tickle him in retaliation before remembering what the consequence last time had been. He didn't want Nico to collapse again, so he held himself back.

Nico wasn't stopping. He had a smile spread across his face as he tickled Will's sides, then his back as Will rolled over and back again. Will raised his arms again, but before he could decide if he was really going to do it or not, Nico had knocked his arms away from him.

Will's stomach started to hurt from laughing so much, so he decided to go for it. Will sneaked his hands up and tickled Nico's sides again. Nico shrieked and shied away. Will sat up, breathing heavily and launched himself at the son of Hades. Nico was soon on his back, laughing like a lunatic. It wasn't long before they were both laughing. Nico from being tickled, and Will because Nico's laughter was just so contagious he couldn't help it.

Then they were both laughing and tickling each other at the same time. This went on for a while before they both fell off the bed with two loud thumps.

They both lay flat on their backs, breathing heavily. "What did you say about not being ticklish, Death Boy?" Will asked when he got his breath back, turning his head to look at Nico.

Nico turned his head to glare at Will even though his broad smile ruined the effect. "Shut up."

Will's gaze locked on Nico's warm brown eyes and he found it hard to look away.

Nico stood up, breaking their eye contact and held out a hand, pulling Will up. "Ready to go to breakfast?" Nico asked.

"Yep," Will replied, popping the 'p' and following Nico out of his cabin.

 **A/N: Couldn't resist putting a little bit of Nico/Will stuff in there. :)**


End file.
